Day 48: Men's Showers [Fourth Shift]

[not_rly_fai]

After a rough morning, Lunch was actually fairly easy to sit through.  Sechs and Kibitoshin hardly knew him, so light conversation was fine.  The things from Breakfast and this morning though, would be sticking with him for a while.  When the nurse arrived to take him to showers, he was relieved to find he was the first one there.  With that, there

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[loyal_soldier]

622 was glad for a chance to get clean, although he could have done without the nurse telling him every three minutes that even though his stitches were out, the cuts on his leg were still healing and he should be careful with them. It wasn't as if he couldn't tell himself, he felt the pull of the healing gashes every time he took a step.

The nurse removed the bandage from his leg and he efficiently took off his clothes, heading for the closest shower and turned it on, sighing contentedly as the water hit his skin. He started scrubbing himself down, although admittedly he might have been taking a bit more time than he needed. He just liked the feel of the hot water.

[Free!]

[loyal_soldier]

Just like in a vid? 622 was slightly taken aback by the sudden enthusiasm. "Yes, we do, if we're from the same cloning line. And if we serve together for long enough then it's possible that we might finish sentences for each other." Although he wasn't sure why that would be asked. Clones that trained together knew how their squad brothers thought better than anyone, but it wasn't as if they did it to show off with something so blatant as that.

622 shrugged. "It's what I've always been. I'm part of the oldest line, so we've been proven to be most effective. It doesn't bother me that I'm not the original, among other things, he was alive before the Empire was made, and frankly, he's dead. ...I suppose I was too, but..." He gestured helplessly, "this place happened."

[no_barbarian]

"That," Teisel said, "is amazing." They finished each other's sentences and everything! He couldn't help but giggle at the thought of it.

He rubbed his chin thoughtfully, serious for a moment. "Hmm. If he's dead, then I guess that makes you guys the new originals."

[loyal_soldier]

"I... guess?" This was amazingly confusing for him. There had been a few enthusiastic responses to the idea of his clone status from people here before, but... he certainly wasn't anything special, and none of the other clones really seemed that way to him either...

He shook his head. "No, it doesn't work like that. The original was the original, it's... it's not like some title you can inherit. We're still soldiers of the Empire for life, regardless of which line we come from."

[no_barbarian]

The way Teisel's brain was wired, simply outliving someone counted as some sort of victory. Why not earn a title for it? "Hmph. He's gone, so no one can tell you you're not the real one." It made perfect sense to him. That other guy had had his time in the sun; now his memory could have the decency to get out of the way and let his copies have a turn.

It took a lot of switching and a great deal of time waiting in a siding, but Teisel's train of thought finally left the 'clone' track. "Wait, you're telling me you have to follow orders your whole life?" He frowned. What a life! Why even bother?

[loyal_soldier]

"I... wouldn't want to be him anyway," 622 replied. "He was a bounty hunter. I've been a soldier with loyalties that I've held for my entire life. I'd never want to be someone who could be paid into changing that."

He looked at the other man like this was the most obvious thing in the galaxy. "Yes, I have." The first order he'd ever disobeyed was just minutes before his death. Before that, he'd never even considered it.